Pulper



Jan. 29, 1957 T. MURPHY 2,779,251

PULPER Filed Aug. 5, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. i L/ay d JWLU' O/Z y BY jhqr-i w L. T. MURPHY Jan. 29, 1957 PULPER 3 Sheets-Sheet Filed Aug. 5 1955 Jan. 29, 1957 U Y 2,779,251

PULPER Filed Aug. 5 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet S ,iFt ig Q1 INVENTOR.

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2,779,251 Patented Jaiilze, 1957'.

PULPER Lloyd Ti M urp yi Chattanooga, Tenn. Application August 5, 1953, Serial No. 372,521,: 1 claim. (era-24 i This invention relates to defibering or refining paper stocks in the manufacture of paper and, more particularly, to apparatus for increasing the capacity, decreasing operating cost and improving the product quality of atub beater.

Heretofore, in a tube beater wherein the stock continuously moves in a closed circuit within the tub and passes through the beater during each lap, it has been necessary to fill the tub slowly, lest the beater be plugged by an overload of bunched or wadded stock. The practice has been to station men with long punch poles adjacent the tub, and it was necessary to punch and shove the bundled stock until it was broken up into small bundles sufiiciently to pass under the roll. The smaller bundles, when passing beneath the roll, would be beaten so as to separate the fibers but, being closely grouped, a significant number of them would be sheared, resulting in an undesirable shortening of the fibers, and many of those not sheared or properly beaten would be more tightly compacted together between the beater roll and bed plate. The compacted fiber bundles, in circuit around the tube, would form the nuclei of larger bundles, analogous to the formation of a snowball, so that further punch-poling prior to re-beating was necessary. When the punch-polers missed a bundle, the beater roll was liable to self-destruction.

The primary object of this invention is to provide mechanisms for preliminarily separating the fibers of paper stock, or pulp, prior to their passing through the heater, in a closed circuit beater tub, and for breaking up compressed bundles or bunches of fibers after the stock passes through the beater. A further object is to prevent the fibers which have been compressed into bundles or bunches by a beater from wadding up into larger bunches and thereby plugging up the beater roll or forming a dam in front of the beater roll.

In accordance with this invention, the object now is to provide, in a tub beater, a pulper serving not only the usual ends of a pulper in its customary independent environment, but acting primarily as an adjunct to a beater roll for dispersing fiber bundles or bunches of the paper stock as the latter passes to and from the beater roll in a tub.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention it is intended to provide in a beater tub, a pulper mounted through the side wall of the tub, in close proximity to the beater roll and in the path of paper stock or pulp passing around the tub, this type of mounting being more adaptable to existing beater tub installations.

These and other objects will be apparent from the following specification and drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation showing a beater tub, beater roll, and a pulper mounted in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view, partially in cross-section, of the device shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side view, partly broken away to show the pulper in vertical cross-section of the device shown in Figs. 1 and 2; and I Fi 4 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical cross-section of the beater roll. a

' Referring now to the drawings, in which like reference numerals denote similar elements, the beater tub indicated generally by the numeral 2 has mounted, in one half, a beater roll 4, thelatter being driven by a shaft 6 rotatably mounted in exterior end bearings 8 and 10 and wall bushings 12 and 14. Shaft 6 is conven tionally belt driven, as by a pulley wheel 16, it being understood that various controls not germane to the invention, for the driving mechanism are, as usual, provided. Beneath beater roll 4 there is a bed plate 18, the roll being shielded by a band 20. Tub 2 is divided into opposite runs by a central partition 22, and has a generally oval side wall 24 and flat bottom wall 26. Beater roll 4 functions, in part, as a paddle wheel for passing the watery mass of paper stock or pulp continuously around the interior of tub 2 in the direction indicated by the arrow, as it beats the pulpy mass between its teeth 27 and bed plate 18.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, a pulper, indicated generally at 28, is mounted in the side wall 24 adjacent the beater roll 4 and on the downstream side thereof in the path of the stock as it moves from beater roll 4. While various types of pulpers may be used, the one illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4 includes a rotating disc 30 having on a concave working face 32 a series of lugs 34. Disc 30 is afiixed on the inner end of a rotating shaft 36, the latter extending through a packing box 38 to bearings 41, and a multiple belt sheave 40 on its outer end. Multiple belts 42 are driven by an electric motor 44 through sheave 46.

In operation, some of the material passing beneath beater roll 4 becomes compressed into tightly compacted bundles. Ordinarily in transit around the interior of tub 2 a bundle would ball up with other fibers, with resultant blocking of or damage to beater roll 4 during the next pass, or with resultant shearing of the fibers between beater roll 4 and bed plate 18. However, pulper 28 separates the bunched or compacted fibers so that they form a smooth pulpy mass when they reach beater roll 4. Thus the fibers are subjected to the desired beating, slapping action which results in finer, longer, stronger fibers and improves their moulding properties during their formation into paper.

It will be understood to those skilled in the art that various conventional forms of beater tubs, beater rolls, and pulpers may be substituted in the combination without departing from the basic concept of the combination of elements defined in the following claims.

I claim:

A paper defibering apparatus comprising, in combination, a tub adapted to contain a mass of paper stock, said tub having a vertical side wall of substantially oval configuration with straight central portions and curved end portions and a bottom wall, a partition disposed centrally of the tub and having ends terminating inwardly of the curved end portions of the side wall of the tub whereby to define a circuitous path within the tub, a beater roll disposed in said path between one side of said partition and a straight portion of said side wall, said beater roll normally rotating in one direction so as to propel the paper stock in a stream about said circuitous path and to break the stock down into easily separable fibers as the stock passes beneath the beater roll, means for rotating said beater roll, a pulper mounted on the side wall of said tub and on the downstream side of the beater roll and substantially at the juncture of the last named straight portion and a contiguous curved end portion of the side wall, said pulper including a 9 a bearing, a shaft rotatably mounted in said bearing and having inner and outer ends respectively disposed within and on the outside of said tub, a disc afiixed on the inner end of said shaft, and means on the outer end of the shaft for rotating the same, said disc lying closely adjacent the side Wall of the tub, the pathfrom one side of said beater roll to the other being otherwise substantially clear whereby small bundles of said stock compacted from time-to-time by said beater roll as an undesirable coincident to the breaking down of the stock are dispersed by said pulper promptly upon emission from beneath the beater roll, and thereby prevented from balling-up in the further course of said stock around said path.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Schacht Nov. 30, 1915 Mitchell Aug. 10, 1926 Witharn Nov. 20, 1928 Stark Dec. 14, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Nov. 19, 1873 Great Britain Oct. 11, 1892 Great Britain Nov. 20, 1901 Great Britain Apr. 5, 1950 France July 25, 1911 

